[Red Badger]

I find it very hard to part with any book I've read. My library fines are astronomical............

[weegee]

I prefer to keep the editions of books I've read. I don't have a great photographic memory but I do have general recall as to where I saw something and when the pages are laid out differently (or the edition goes from hardcover to paperback) it can be much harder to reference a quote or subject.

[Larry Lucido]

BOOKMAN: Well, let me tell you something, funny boy. Y'know that little stamp, the one that says "New York Public Library"? Well that may not mean anything to you, but that means a lot to me. One whole hell of a lot.

Sure, go ahead, laugh if you want to. I've seen your type before: Flashy, making the scene, flaunting convention. Yeah, I know what you're thinking. What's this guy making such a big stink about old library books? Well, let me give you a hint, junior. Maybe we can live without libraries, people like you and me. Maybe. Sure, we're too old to change the world, but what about that kid, sitting down, opening a book, right now, in a branch at the local library and finding drawings of pee-pees and wee-wees on the Cat in the Hat and the Five Chinese Brothers?

Doesn't HE deserve better? Look. If you think this is about overdue fines and missing books, you'd better think again. This is about that kid's right to read a book without getting his mind warped! Or: maybe that turns you on, Seinfeld; maybe that's how y'get your kicks. You and your good-time buddies. Well I got a flash for ya, joy-boy: Party time is over. Y'got seven days, Seinfeld. That is one week!

[RightWhale]

I find it very hard to part with any book I've read.

Few things are more satisfying than to take old, useless books to the recycle stand at the dumpster station. Fiction, excepting Graham Greene, are burnt after reading.